Freewing 90mm F-22 Raptor - Official Thread

[Helmsman52]

Thanks to Evan D for his help as I was able to program tailerons. I also added some floods to the main gear. So, opening canopy, wingtip lights and strobes, RC Geek center-burner, Jeremy Solt's slime lights, mains floods, 3D printed cockpit parts and thrust vectoring. I am done....

Awesome Steve!
I wasn’t really into the F-22 until I seen all the lighting, TV and mods... dang it, I may just have to buy this bad boy! :)

[Rcfiddy1]

I’d like the TV mod but I don’t want it on all the time.

[fhhuber]

I’d like the TV mod but I don’t want it on all the time.

separate servos to the TV system and then computer programming can do that. (if you have enough channels and mixes available)

[Flightsss]

Just to confirm.... the better nose wheel to run for scale appeal is the f-16 4.2mm? Right?

[Flightsss]

Hey check this out- after opening up a tech ticket with motion regarding the shatty UBEC this is the resonse i get....... what a joke......

Hi Eric,
The UBEC in the F-22 provides up to 7.5A @ 5V. There are 8 servos and three retracts, and 1 light drawing power from the UBEC. A digital micro servo draws 120 mAh without a load on it. So, even if all 8 servos were moving under no load, that would amount to .96A, so under load, most of the time, the draw is no more than 2-2.5A from the servos. If, for some reason, you are doing crazy aerobatics while raising or lowering the retracts, which draw about 1A each, you are still only at 5A, which leaves 2.5A in reserve.

We have not had any reports from customers about the UBEC failing. If it is being reported on forums and social media, they are not coming to us with it. This ESC and BEC is being used in every Freewing 8S model, and if there was a problem with it we would be buried under a mountain of styrofoam peanuts from crashed models. I can not say what issue you experienced during the flight of your model, but I can say with certainty that the UBEC is more than capable of handling the load the F-22 puts on it. If you feel the need to change the component out, you may feel free to do so.

Best Regards,

------------------------------------

Michael
Customer Service
Motion RC
www.motionrc.com
www.hobbysquawk.com

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[crxmanpat]

Just to confirm.... the better nose wheel to run for scale appeal is the f-16 4.2mm? Right?

It's the Freewing 90mm F-16 main wheel that you want:

https://www.motionrc.com/products/freewing-60mm-x-17mm-wheel-for-4-2mm-axle

The F-16 nose wheel also has a 4.2mm axle size, so make sure you're getting the correct one. The nose wheel for the F-16 is 15mm shorter than the mains.

[Evan D]

Eric, you have a post count of 2. Did you have a problem with the BEC? Neither post says you have.

[F106DeltaDart]

The F-16 nose wheel is closer to scale size than main wheels are. The full scale F-22 nose wheel is 23.5” in diameter, and the F-22 is 1/12.61 scale. That means the scale nose wheel should be 1.86” or 47mm in diameter. The F-16 nose wheel is closest at 45mm.

[crxmanpat]

True, but if you put the F-16 nose gear on, you're going to have a nose low attitude. The F-16 main is closer in size of the stock nose wheel. Stock is 65mm, the F-16 main is 60mm.

[Flightsss]

Thank you for the wheel info.

FYI - im 32 years old been flying rc for about 29.

post count of 2 haha i have to start somewhere right?

Im usually just a silent observer in these forums but i like the vibe here. Very positive, informative and helpful so i decided to get involved.

- especially after my ubec failure and reading of others. Once motion wrote me that BS response, i felt compelled to post it.

[Flightsss]

Im considering upgrading to the castle 20amp pro. To remedy the OEM BEC.

Either that or the 10 amp castle. I like how the pro has 2 JR leads though.....

[RCjetdude]

True, but if you put the F-16 nose gear on, you're going to have a nose low attitude. The F-16 main is closer in size of the stock nose wheel. Stock is 65mm, the F-16 main is 60mm.

Mine rotates fine with just the smaller wheel and nothing else.

[RCjetdude]

Im considering upgrading to the castle 20amp pro. To remedy the OEM BEC.

Either that or the 10 amp castle. I like how the pro has 2 JR leads though.....

I changed to the CC20A but more because of the additional lighting loads I added. Just didn't want to take a chance.

[RCjetdude]

Thank you for the wheel info.

FYI - im 32 years old been flying rc for about 29.

post count of 2 haha i have to start somewhere right?

Im usually just a silent observer in these forums but i like the vibe here. Very positive, informative and helpful so i decided to get involved.

- especially after my ubec failure and reading of others. Once motion wrote me that BS response, i felt compelled to post it.

Was yours a 6S or 8S bird?

[Flightsss]

8s

i guess i dont need a switch on the new bec.

thats another thing about the OEM POS- you got current running thru a crappy switch. Not to mention on 22awg? Seems light no? These upgraded becs come with at least 18? Doesnt say anywhere.

[RCjetdude]

Under normal conditions the BEC's may be sized appropriately and for the vast majority of products they work fine. Throw into the mix a stiffer than normal retract or two and a few servos that are struggling and the amp draw could possibly get high enough to run into issues. I have only ever had one plane that I suspected of a brown out as I dropped gear for landing. It flew with no control in a circle opposite my intended landing pattern and then recovered and I immediately landed it. The only other time I lost a brand new Avanti I believe was due to a loss if signal and may have been a faulty receiver. In neither situation was I certain what happened. Most BEC's I know of have output ratings well below what their max or burst rating indicates. The Castle 20A Pro is rated for 11A continuous on 33V input and the Castle 10A is only capable of 5A continuous on a max of 25 volts input, 10A peak which means it's only good for up to 6S. The point is the output current goes down as the input voltage goes up and I bet that is the same for all of them. Clearly it seems like you are better off powering the BEC from a separate battery which begs the question, why use a BEC then?

[john2kx]

Under normal conditions the BEC's may be sized appropriately and for the vast majority of products they work fine. Throw into the mix a stiffer than normal retract or two and a few servos that are struggling and the amp draw could possibly get high enough to run into issues. I have only ever had one plane that I suspected of a brown out as I dropped gear for landing. It flew with no control in a circle opposite my intended landing pattern and then recovered and I immediately landed it. The only other time I lost a brand new Avanti I believe was due to a loss if signal and may have been a faulty receiver. In neither situation was I certain what happened. Most BEC's I know of have output ratings well below what their max or burst rating indicates. The Castle 20A Pro is rated for 11A continuous on 33V input and the Castle 10A is only capable of 5A continuous on a max of 25 volts input, 10A peak which means it's only good for up to 6S. The point is the output current goes down as the input voltage goes up and I bet that is the same for all of them. Clearly it seems like you are better off powering the BEC from a separate battery which begs the question, why use a BEC then?

You make some excellent points, Steve. With the recent reports in the past week of guys losing radio signal, I’ve decided to upgrade my favorite edf’s with the Castle pro bec.

To to be honest, I have always felt uneasy with the bec’s supplied in my 3 Motion jets. Perhaps it’s just the way they just dangle from the ec5 connector or maybe just knowing how cheap they are to purchase. Guess you could say I’m one who believes you get what you pay for.

I spent about a hour this morning reviewing flight logs of my A10, F4 and F22. All outfitted with the factory supplied bec and all 6S powered. About 200 flights total on the three planes. None have had any additional accessories added that require power from bec. Jeti logs show rx voltage range from 5.0-4.94 volts throughout their flights, and I can just about tie the small dips in voltage to take offs and landings (where gear and flaps are activated).

Guess we we can all find fault with any model but for me, this recent entry into edf’s has proven to give the best bang for buck I have found in 40 years of flying.

John

[JLambCWU]

I actually did that to mine with a couple of spare LEDs when I did my lighting system. I told Pat i got glued mine to the bottom of the strut, but I like the door install better.
We fly well after sunset out in Utah for a lot of the videos. The noselights on the jets are so bright when it gets dark that you can’t see the wingtips for orientation sometimes. Even with the added wingtip lights.

When you install the lights down low enough on the gear or gear doors, it creates an angle between them and the nose light when you slow the jet down on the approach to let you know you are on speed, at the right angle of attack even in low light. Like this...

O
o o

See pic at the very bottom and the videos!

I got some white 1W LED's off of eBay, made some 3D printed mounts for them which I then just glued to the gear doors. I made a three to one harness and just plugged the nose strut light and two main strut lights into the take off light spot on the MCB-E. I then recessed the foam in the wing where the light fit when the gear was retracted. I think Pat did something similar on his.

[john2kx]

I’m having a hard time with orientation below the tree line and want to add lights to the mains as well. I like Steve’s idea but don’t have a 3D printer to make LED housings. Motion carries a single light (in housing) but it looks pretty big as compared to what you guys are using and I’m not sure if I can remove enough foam in fuselage to tuck them in when retracted.

John

[crxmanpat]

Mine rotates fine with just the smaller wheel and nothing else.

I thought you had put an F-16 main wheel on the nose, but I went back through the thread and it was George that used a main. So the F-16 nose wheel works fine on this?